So I graduated yesterday with my Masters. It feels a bit anti-climactic because I've had my thesis defended, done and turned in since September 19th so I could make the End-O-The-Quarter deadline. Thankfully (for once) there was no last-minute rushing around.
For the past few weeks I've been agonizing about a large purchase. I have wanted a sewing machine since this summer. I was really proud of myself because I didn't act on this while I was finishing my thesis and that was really hard to do. The promise of learning to sew — somethng I've always wanted to do — while having to work really hard at something that I grew to loathe was difficult. I am not a patient person, to say the least.
After my thesis was done, I was offered my mother-in-law's old White sewing machine from the 1970s. It was big and metal and intimidating, but it looked solid and I felt pretty confident. Then I saw the bobbin casing. I had books on sewing machines from the library and the bobbin winding mechanisms looked nothing like this machine. Both the winder (a lever on the side) and the bobbin housing (hard to reach with seamingly extra metal housings...) remained an enigma. So I caved and called White and they said they would send me the manual for a reasonable $6 and I should have it within the week since they were in Cleveland.
Three weeks later I finally got it. There was some sort of completely reasonable illness that prevented them from sending out their orders of arcane sewing machine manuals from the 70s. Then a week or two later my friend Amy came over to help me figure out what the heck was going on with the machine. We looked at the manual, had everything looking good, and then when I pressed the pedal, the needle sparked, broke and shot metal shavings all over my hand and the bobbin sort of violently threw itself across the floor. This was intimidating to say the least.
I started looking at new machines. Over Thanksgiving, I thought I may have struck gold with an elderly neighbor's Elna, only to have it refuse for us to pull up bobbin thread. I started taking a sewing machine census of people I knew with sewing machines and what they thought of them.
While I was very impressed with the Berninas I looked at, I sort of balked at the price for their entry-level quality machine. I really didn't want to spend $1,000 on a sewing machine. On the reccomendation of a friend's wife, I bought my sewing machine from the Westerville Sew-N- Save. And if you don't think that I love typing that name, you're wrong.
I looked at Singers, but almost every one I talked to had some quality issues with the newer ones. My grandmother-in-law has a Singer from the 1930s, and that machine is a delight to use. Whenever I need to sew a lining into something I've knit, that's the machine I have been using. But apparently, they don't make em' like they used to. Or something.
I talked to the Stitching Post people about Vikings, which is what my grandmother uses (a late 1960's vintage, I think). I've heard varying things about Viking's quality of late as well. Someone along the way told me the Janome builds or runs the Viking factory now. I have no idea if this is true, as the woman trying to sell me a Viking was very dismissive of all other machines including Janomes, except the Bernina. Seriously, she left a pretty bad taste in my mouth. Also, I just wasn't impressed with what Viking was going to give me for my money.
The Bernina Activa 230 I looked at did just about everything I wanted, but the floor model cost $999. The price for accessories was also high. A Bernina walking foot cost over $120. The dealer in town had a 6-year old Activa 140 for $699. While I'm happy those machines retain so much of their value, I didn't want to pay that much for an older machine without some of the newer features.
The Westerville Sew-N- Save sells Janomes and Brother. Initially I liked a few of the Janome models, but some ofthe extra features on the Brother won my heart. Especially the scissor function. Love, love, love the scissor button.
Here is my list of what I wanted from my machine:
-the ability to drop the feed dogs
-optional walking foot (Brother included it)
-needle up/needle down button
-one step buttonhole (button hole memory would be nice)
-easy bobbin loading/winding
-automatic needle threading
-some pretty decorative stitches
-maybe an alphabet
-general intuitive ease of use
The model I ended up with (The Brother Innovis 650Q) has everything on the list and a ton more. Originally, I had settled on the Brother 450. The week before I bought my machine, the store had two 450Q's in stock, and by the time I went back the next week, they were both gone, so the owner gave me the 650Q for the price she had offered the 450 to me for. The 650 is the same basic machine but with a ton more stitches. I was very happy with price, which ended up being less than the used Bernina.
I've had the machine for about a week now and made a few small things on it. I'm not terribly good yet, but I'm taking lessons (my husband says I'm doing an independent study) from the store. They are very adamant about teaching you how to use your new machine and have been great at working with me to find time. Lessons are part of the price of buying the machine and the women who teach at the store are very nice and interesting. At least one is a retired middle school teacher. I think they're a little tickled that young people are getting interested in something they grew up learning and have been doing for years. Also, they may make a tiny face, but they'd never tell me out loud how bad my blind hems actually look.
I don't usually post long involved purchase decision processes here because I hate writing stuff like this up, but when I was doing research, I had such a hard time finding current reviews of machines and decent evaluations. The new magazine Craft has been posting on this topic recently, but that's the only thing I've really seen. A lot of people (on Craftster, etc.) seem really eager to share their pictures of their vintage sewing machines, which is a great route to go down, and one I would've like to take myself, if only I could've located one in working order.
What does this have to do with graduation?
It was my graduation present to myself.
